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Caring for our futureReforming care and support

EasyRead version of theGovernment’s White Paperon care and support

What is in this paper?

About this white paper Page1

What is care and support? Page3

Paying for care and support Page8

Problems with care andsupport at the moment

Page9

What is in this paper?

What we want care andsupport to be like

Page11

What we want to hearpeople saying in the future

Page14

Making care and supportbetter

Page16

? What the words mean Page20

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About this White Paper

This is an EasyRead version of our WhitePaper about our plans to make care andsupport better.

Difficult words are written in bold. There isa list of what these words mean at theend.

When we say ‘we’ in this booklet, wemean the Government.

The Conservatives and Liberal Democratsjoined together, after the election in 2010,to become a coalition government.

We both agreed how important it was todo something about care and support inEngland and these are our plans to makeit better.

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Most importantly, we want to help people:

● to be more independent

● to have choice and control over theircare and support

● to live their lives in the way they want

● and to keep their human rights.

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What is care and support?

Care and support means lots of differentthings for different people.

It depends on what each person needs,but can include things like:

● help to get out of bed, get dressed orwashed

● eating or cooking meals

● help with seeing friends and family

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● caring for others.

We all know someone who needs care andsupport, and most people will need somecare and support themselves at sometime in their lives.

Care and support comes from lots ofdifferent people; family, friends, people inthe community.

Depending on how much money peoplehave, the Government helps to pay forsome parts of care and support.

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This White Paper is for:

● people who are 18 or older

● the people who work in care andsupport

● family carers and others who care forsomeone.

What we have done so far

The Government has already done a lot tochange care and support.

In 2010, we wrote an EasyRead papercalled “Our plans for social care foradults”.

We said we would spend more money onsocial care in the next few years.

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Reports from other people

This White Paper and progress report onfunding includes what we think aboutreports from 2 other groups as well.

1. The Law Commission looked at thelaws we have about care and supportat the moment.

They said the laws are confusing andthis makes it difficult for people toknow what they might get.

They said all of the different bits oflaws should be put together into onenew law.

There is an EasyRead version of theLaw Commission’s report here:

www.tinyurl.com/LawCommPlanER

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2. The Dilnot Commission looked athow care should be paid for andwho should pay for what.

They said that there should be a setlimit to how much people pay for care.

The Dilnot Commission also had someother ideas about care and support.

There is an EasyRead version oftheir report here:

www.tinyurl.com/DilnotReportER

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Paying for care and support

Paying for care at the moment is unfair andconfusing.

Government pays for care when peoplehave spent most of their own money. Thismeans people often have to use theirsavings and sell their homes to pay forcare.

As well as our White Paper, we havewritten a report on the subject of howpeople should pay for care in the future.

You can get this report on our website here:

www.tinyurl.com/FundingCare

An EasyRead version will be on the samewebsite soon.

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Problems with care andsupport at the moment

In 2011 we asked a lot of people abouthow to make care and support better.

You told us:

there are lots of problems with care atthe moment

people do not understand how careand support works

access to care and support is differentin different parts of the country

people are not helped to plan for thefuture

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there is not enough information aboutwhat to do if a person needs care andsupport

care and support does not supportpeople to be independent or havecontrol of their care

people are sometimes not treated aswell as they should be

more people will need support in thefuture.

Big changes are needed to make surepeople live the lives they want in thefuture.

Changes should happen now.

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What we want care andsupport to be like

The plans in our White Paper will makesure:

● care and support meets people’sneeds

● we help people to be independentand look after themselves as far aspossible

● people have better choice and aregiven information to help them withtheir choices

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● people are treated well and respected

● people are safe

● we give better training to more peopleworking in care and support

● we help communities get stronger sopeople can share their skills andtalents. We help people to getinvolved in their local communities

● we treat carers as the very importantpeople they are

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● the health and wellbeing of carers isbetter supported

● we make it easier for people to moveto other parts of the country for a job,or to be closer to family and still getthe care and support they need.

What we want to hearpeople saying in the future

The White Paper says how we will sort outthe problems people have told us aboutcare and support.

When that happens we want to hearpeople say things like:

I am supported to keep independentor as long as I can be.f

I understand how care andsupport works, and what I get.

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I am happy with my care and support.

My support workers or carers treatme with dignity and respect.

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I am in control of my careand support.

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Making care and supportbetter

As we said on page 6, the LawCommission told us the laws about careare confusing.

We want everyone to understand whatcare and support is and what they shouldget.

So we have started writing a new law thatwill do away with the old laws.

The new law on care and support willbring the law up to date. It will be easierand simple to understand.

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It will:

● make it easier for people who provideservices to do things differently andbetter

● make it clear what people can get

● help people know what their rights are

● help people plan ahead

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● mean that people get the informationand advice they need

● make sure people can get help to stopproblems early.

We want to make sure that we have gotthe new law right. It will be checked bypeople in Parliament.

?We would also like to know what you thinkabout the new law, and will be asking youin summer 2012.

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There is an EasyRead version of the draftCare and Support Bill here:

www.tinyurl.com/careandsupportbill

We then want to make it law as soon aspossible, after it has been looked at inParliament.

And then we need everyone to work welltogether to make the changes happen.

?

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What the words mean

Coalition Government A coalition is when people agree to dosomething together. A coalition inparliament is when 2 or more partiesjoin together to make the Government.

Dilnot Commission A group of experts led by Andrew Dilnotlooked at how care should be paid forand who should pay for what

Direct Payments Support money from Government thatis given straight to people to spend onsupport that meets their needs.

Healthwatch A new group taking over from LINKs.They will help local people have a sayabout their health and social careservices.

Independent Being able to do as much as you can foryourself with support when you need it.

Law Commission The Law Commission is an independentgroup that checks on the law and sayswhen they think it needs changing.

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Local Involvement LINKs are made up of individuals andNetworks (LINks) community groups, such as faith

groups and residents' groups, workingtogether to make health and socialcare services better.

Personal Budget A Personal Budget is the total amountof money people have for their support.It can come from several differentplaces and is all put together.

Self Advocacy People speaking up for themselves orothers with learning disabilities, oftenwith support from a self advocacy groupor as members of the group.

Strategy A plan.

White Paper A White Paper is a Government paperthat says what we plan to do aboutsomething. White Papers are oftenturned into law to make sure that whatwe want to do happens.

Credits

This paper has been designed andproduced for by the EasyRead service atInspired Services Publishing Ltd.Ref ISL379/11. July 2012.

Artwork is from the Valuing People Clipartcollection and cannot be used anywhereelse without written permission fromInspired Services Publishing Ltd.

To contact Inspired Services:

www.inspiredservices.org

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